Micah 3:11b-12
Yet they look for the Lord’s support and say,
‘Is not the Lord among us?
No disaster will come upon us.’
12 Therefore because of you,
Zion will be ploughed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,
the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.
If you think back to yesterday’s verses, what we’ve just read is completely shocking! Verses 9-11 told us that the leaders of Israel were unjust, wicked and covetous. Yet they still remain convinced that the judgement that Micah warns of is a figment of his imagination. “God is with us” they say. “It’s all going to be fine!”
I think this shows us just what a powerful thing ‘Identity’ is. How we see ourselves affects how we behave. If I feel confident and competent I will be more likely to face a challenge head on. If I feel weak and unskilled I’m more likely to look for ways to avoid doing something that seems difficult. The people of Micah’s day seem to have a very strong sense of Identity. They knew exactly who they were: God’s chosen people. And on the face of it, they were right. After all, God had told them “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God” (Exodus 6:7). They saw themselves as untouchable by any enemy, because of their special status. And they therefore felt able to completely ignore God’s word to them, through Micah, which warned of coming judgement. Which reveals the great flaw in their position. They are treating God not as their covenant-keeping rescuer, but as their enemy!
The relationship between Identity and behaviour works both ways. How we see ourselves affects how we behave. But how we behave reveals who we really think we are. And the behaviour of the people shows that they’re not really God’s people at all. It’s a badge that they wear, but it’s not who they are at heart. They don’t think of themselves as stubborn rebels, rescued by a God who loves them more than they deserve. In fact, their true identity is very different: They are God’s enemies, who have rejected him and worshipped idols, and so face his just judgement.
What about us? How we respond to these warnings of judgement reveals how we really see ourselves. Do we think “Judgement? No problem! I’m fine”, merely wearing the badge ‘Christian’ whilst continuing to live with hearts that see God as the enemy? If so, today would be a good day to ask God to give us a new identity as his child, by faith in Jesus. Or have we embraced that new identity already, which allows us to think “Judgement? That’s exactly what I deserve. Praise God that Jesus died in my place and I am safe in him.” If that’s us, let’s thank him for that today.
